Words that Define Distinctions

By: Mr. Curmudgeon
mrcurmudgeon@inthepublicsquare.com

Redefining language is the nihilist’s most valuable weapon. Increased taxes are now “investments.” Abortions are a product of “choice.” Incarcerating terrorists and subjecting them to intense interrogation is “torture.” Toppling totalitarian dictators is a “war crime.” And most recently, peaceful, principled political opposition is “resentment” or “hate.”

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman attempted to synthesis the main theme of the recently concluded Republican convention. “What struck me as I watched the convention speeches, however, is how much of the anger on the right is based not on the claim that Democrats have done bad things, but on the perception — generally based on no evidence whatsoever — that Democrats look down their noses at regular people.

Thus Mr. Giuliani asserted that Wasilla, Alaska, isn’t ‘flashy enough’ for Mr. Obama, who never said any such thing. And Ms. Palin asserted that Democrats ‘look down’ on small-town mayors — again, without any evidence.

What the GOP is selling, in other words, is the pure politics of resentment; you’re supposed to vote Republican to stick it to an elite that thinks it’s better than you. Or to put it another way, the GOP is still the party of Nixon.”

This is a strange charge since the politics of resentment has been the cornerstone of Democratic politics since the New Deal days of Franklin Roosevelt.

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…as a way to explain their frustrations,” said Sen. Barack Obama to rich, sophisticated Bay Area Democratic campaign contributors—who would never dream of looking down their nose at Middle American values.

“For me, the most disturbing aspect of the Republican political culture is how it puts its unquenchable thirst for power, domination and a radical ideology above facts, reason and the truth,” said the self-described inventor of the Internet and bringer-of-world-peace-through global-warming, Al Gore.

“Republicans…have no love and no joy. They´d rather take pictures with black children than feed them.” –Donna Brazile, Heath and Human Service Secretary for President Bill Clinton and Al Gores campaign manager in 2000.

What Paul Krugman and the Democratic Party describe as “anger” and “hate” is simple opposition. The Democrats have seen so little of it the last eight years, they are shaken when—at least rhetorically if not literally—a Republican expresses ideas that differ from their own.

For the edification of conservative delegates assembled at Minneapolis, Sen. McCain put “reaching across the aisle” on hold temporarily and drew some distinctions between his party and the one it is duty bound to oppose.

“We believe in low taxes, spending discipline and open markets. We believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor.” “We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law and judges who dispense justice impartially and don't legislate from the bench.”

For the Democratic nihilists, McCain’s words drip with hate. To believe that Americans could live free from the grip of Washington bureaucrats—and the totalitarian technocrats who guide them—is implicitly hateful to Washington’s permanent ruling class. By their re-definition, freedom and its various expressions are “hate.”

McCain and the party he now leads need to fight a hard fight. That fight, in no small way, requires restoring the language before restoring the country. Plain, clear language to express the principles of limited government and maximum freedom may win the presidency for the Republicans. Weasel words like “reaching across the aisle” only confuse voters looking for a real difference.

Words that clearly define distinctions are what nihilists find most hateful.

--Mr. Curmudgeon